Welcome to Turn It and Turn It
Dear Friends,
I am excited to create this new platform for publicly sharing my writings (and perhaps in the future other media, such as podcasts.) A little about me: I retired in 2022 after serving for 34 years as the spiritual leader of Kehillat Lev Shalem - the Woodstock Jewish Congregation, in Woodstock, New York. Yes, that Woodstock - the art and music colony whose name has become a descriptor of giant gatherings around the world. I am ever grateful for the opportunity I have had to be a community leader in this beautiful region of Upstate New York.
Our wonderful synagogue community quite intentionally chose our Hebrew name “Kehillat Lev Shalem,” which means “The Congregation of a Full Heart,” because of our commitment to leading with our hearts, to keeping our hearts open to one another and to the stranger, to filling our hearts from the unfailing well of spaciousness and goodness that abides in the universe, and to resisting the urge to harden our hearts despite the cruelty that is also present in our world. These are my personal commitments as well.
I am equally committed to clear thinking; to the study of history; to maintaining an open mind and to reevaluating my positions as circumstances evolve or as new understandings emerge; to stating my positions with passion and clarity, but also to the premise that “I could be wrong.”
That is why I chose to title my book (shameless plug) and this blog Turn It and Turn It. I am quoting an ancient Jewish saying about the value and also the preferred method of studying and interpreting Torah, that is, our sacred texts and teachings: “Turn it and turn it, for everything is in it; grow old and gray in it, for there is no better path than this.” The perennial Jewish method of the pursuit of wisdom and understanding is to examine a subject from every possible angle; this is why Judaism sanctifies study and debate. Jewish culture reveres this pursuit so highly that it considers it, along with prayer and acts of justice and kindness, to be the essential pathways to achieving our full potential and to improving the world.
I have been enjoying my retirement and indulging in some long-deferred adventures. But at this moment when Israel is at war and anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment is exploding literally around the world, I very much want to reengage and add my voice to the public discourse. I also simply want to stay connected to you all in these uncertain and dangerous times. May we give each other strength to continue to engage with and embrace our beloved, fractured world.
Shalom,
Rabbi Jonathan Kligler